Tyler Perry’s Madea beats Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher at US box office

Tyler Perry’s latest Madea film topped the US box office over the weekend, knocking Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher sequel into second place.

Boo! A Madea Halloween opened in the top spot with $27.6m (£22.5m), according to studio estimates. It’s the third best opening for a Madea movie, behind Madea Goes to Jail and Madea’s Family Reunion.

Reuters attributed the success to the film’s wide appeal, saying that only 60% of its audience were African American. That demographic normally makes up 80-90% of Perry’s audience.

Perry’s film proved to be the strongest of the weekend’s slew of sequels, topping the star power of Tom Cruise, whose Jack Reacher: Never Go Back took in an estimated $23m.

Less successful was comedy Keeping Up With the Joneses, which launched with a tepid $5.6m. The film, starring Isla Fisher and Zach Galifianakis as a pair of boring suburbanites intrigued by the arrival of a glamorous new couple played by Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot, was savaged by critics.
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In limited release, the critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama Moonlight got off to a strong start in four theatres with $414,740 and many sell-out showings, a good result for a film with no big stars and a little-known director in Barry Jenkins. It will expand in coming weeks, and is among the early favourites for Oscar recognition.

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